PRESS DIGEST-Canada-March 4

March 4

March 4 The following are the top stories from
selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these
stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

* Justin Trudeau's campaign team has signed up 150,000 new
supporters of the federal Liberals, a show of support that seems
to put his bid for leadership beyond the reach of his rivals.
The new supporters category allows people to vote for the next
leader without formally joining the party as dues-paying
members.

* British Columbia Premier Christy Clark faced her own
cabinet ministers on Sunday in a bid to persuade them she can
still lead the ruling Liberals in a May election - despite a
firestorm of criticism over her handling of a leaked memo that
has stoked party dissent and raised doubts about her leadership.

* Alberta politicians - facing billions of dollars in red
ink - get back to business in the house on Tuesday to pass what
Premier Alison Redford calls a watershed budget along with a new
centerpiece Financial Management Act. "It's been some time in
Alberta since we've taken the time to be thoughtful and
deliberate about setting that fiscal framework, and I think it's
going to be a really exciting session," Redford said in an
interview.

Reports in the business section:

* Canada's energy companies are factoring a carbon price
into their business planning, even in the absence of federal
climate regulations. In a survey to be released on Monday, 10 of
the country's top oil and gas and power companies say they
currently use a "shadow carbon price" to quantify and manage the
risk of higher costs that would arise from future carbon
constraints.

* Bank of Montreal is bringing back its
controversial 2.99 per cent five-year fixed-rate mortgages. BMO
sparked a mortgage price war among the banks early last year
when it first introduced the rate, one that angered Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty, who has been worrying that Canadians are
taking on too much mortgage debt. The bank stopped offering the
rate later in 2012.

* Lawyers for Bell Mobility Inc will appear in a Yellowknife
courtroom on Monday, facing off in a class-action lawsuit
launched on behalf of Northern residents who were charged for
911 service on their cellphone bills despite not being able to
dial it in an emergency.

NATIONAL POST

* Canada's newest have-not region, southern Ontario, got its
own billion dollar bailout fund from Ottawa in 2009, after
recession devastated the province's manufacturing sector. Four
years later, the first report card on how the money was spent
shows that bustling Toronto scooped up the lion's share of
benefits.

* The Liquor Control Board of Ontario has been violating the
privacy of people who belong to wine, beer or spirit clubs by
tracking their consumption habits, according to the province's
Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian.

* Seven weeks after Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First
Nations leaders met amid heightened tensions, there's still no
date planned for a follow-up meeting, Assembly of First Nations
National Chief Shawn Atleo said on Sunday. The meeting on Jan.
11, which occurred with indigenous protests at a fever pitch
across the country, concluded with promises of high-level
discussions on treaties and comprehensive land claims, as well
as a follow-up meeting between Harper and Atleo.

FINANCIAL POST

* Amid an extremely difficult period for the global mining
industry, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada
conference remains a source of cautious optimism for
shell-shocked companies and investors. The industry's largest
event, expected to draw more than 30,000 people, kicked off
Sunday in Toronto. And while none of the speakers pretended that
these are pleasant times for mining companies, they tried to
remind everyone that some positive fundamentals are still in
place.